Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Po Slovensky!!

Another P-day down. Only 3 more to go! Yikes!!
The time here has really sped up and last week feels like it really didn't happen. Motivation and diligence really makes time fly by!
The week really took off on Thursday where we had our TRC and had to teach a lesson IN SLOVAK! ("po slovensky") We started out doing our "task" where we had a mock dinner appointment. I, of course, forget every food word so I was pretty lost. Elder Bacon, Nichol and I taught 4 people. One lady, Eva, was from Prague and was here for conference. She is so nice! She served a mission in Mesa so is pretty fluent in English. (Not that I ever heard a word of it) Then we had 2 other RMs from Czech and one from Slovakia. So the Slovak RM was interpreting when we couldn't understand. Czech and Slovak are similar, but they are definitely different languages. Our lesson went so well. I understood most of what was said, but struggled so much in communicating what i wanted to say. It's so frustrating recognizing a need and understanding a question but being unable to answer or help meet that need. One day though...
I hope you all enjoyed General Conference. It was so great! My district managed to stick together for all of the sessions. So far we've never sat apart for a devotional or a meal. We're convinced that we are the closest district. (It helps that we're so small) We had to show up about an hour and half early to get a seat in the Gym. We managed to snag front row seats where the deaf section is (They only have one deaf Elder) and sat in front of a nice tv screen. It felt like home almost. Then when it started half the screen was taken up by an interpreter and the visual and audio was off (Not that that would matter to someone who can't hear...) Sister Bartholomew and I loved it but everyone got so distracted. Needless to say, we didn't sit there again.... Priesthood session was great and Elder Bacon enjoyed himself. He was gone all day so I stuck with elder Freeman and Nichol. It was kinda nice having a day off from Elder Bacon, but I kinda missed my shadow. We all welcomed him back that night with applause. They sounded SO GOOD! All of the sessions of conference was amazing. I love experiencing things as a missionary. I felt that every single talk really applied to me. The counsel I received from those great men and women will really help me out in the field and in life beyond the mission. I just wish I had investigators now! Something that really stuck out to me was Elder Holland's talk. I need to do a better job at recognizing everything that everyone does. From the leaders down to all the "helpers". I loved his comments about his parents and I couldn't help bu think about Mom and Dad. Both of you have done and sacrificed so much so that I could have the life I enjoy. Sometimes, ok, most of the time, it went without thanks but that never deterred you from giving more. I love both of you so much! :)
Something else that was amazing this week was last Friday, Elder Bacon and I have a Teaching Appointment and we had to teach the plan of salvation and tie it into the Law of Tithing. It was such a good lesson and I couldn't help but wish that I was going stateside. I just want to teach people SO bad! I can't wait 6 months or however long it'll take to get this language down! But the best part about this lesson was at the end the teacher told us to really help the investigator understand the Pre-Earth life. She asked if they knew that they had a relationship with God before this life how do you think their prayers and attitude towards God would change? I had always known this concept but it really hit me this time thinking about in a context of prayer. We all knew our Heavenly Father. (He knew us and loved us, and still does of course.) Why wouldn't I want to rekindle that two-way relationship? So cool!
Got your Dear Elder about the package coming soon, thanks in advance! Did you find my check book? It would be great if you could throw that in. And mints! Gum is outlawed here. (What isn't?) And I know I've said this for weeks but pictures coming soon as well as the copy of my wallet stuff you keep bugging me about mom. Also, no worries about the shoes. They just had to be broken in is all. That seems to be a common thing with Eccos.
Thanks all for the letters that keep coming. The support is fantastic and I'm working on responding! :) BTW Morgan, your letter seems to top everything anyone has ever sent!